I Am You and You Are Me
by Silvertongue15
Summary: During the time when The First is on the move a demon trying to prove itself sucks Willow and Buffy's souls out of their bodies. Faith kills the demon, but the souls don't end up in the right place.


Disclaimer: I didn't come up with any of these characters. All of the rights and stuff goes to Joss Whedon. I'm just writing and having fun. I can't take any credit for any of that.

* * *

Like every other day when your town was literally sitting on the hell mouth, this one was hard. Life had gone from bad, to worse, to really worse, to sucko, to well...hell. The First Evil was back and he or she or it really meant business this time.

There was more than one thing that the First had brought this time that was a little more than a pain in Buffy's ass. First off, the Bringers. Blind guys who acted like they weren't and killed or got killed. They weren't The First's strongest warriors, but they had the annoying habit of being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Secondly, the Uber Vamps, yes, Vamps. There was more than one, more than ten, more than, from what Buffy could tell from her dream, a thousand. A whole army of super strong, viscious vampires ready to hunt her and the potentials, and all her friends down. But they weren't the worst yet.

No, he was the worst. Caleb or Preacher Man, or whatever you wanted to call him, he was evil. Evil and strong and she hadn't figured out a way to beat him yet. He had sent her a message by stabbing a potential. He had lured her and some of the potentials and Spike and Faith and Xander into a trap and destroyed them. Xander, poor Xander. This was all her fault and there was nothing anyone could say or do to convince her otherwise, not that anyone was trying.

No, they all knew too. They all blamed her. She had made a huge mistake and they all knew it. Now all that was left was to make things right again. So while Xander sat in the Hospital, she would figure out a way to destroy Caleb, preferably painfully.

"Watcha Got?" Faith asked her as Buffy pulled out the files Willow had given her.

"Info that Giles and Willow were able to pull off the police database. We figure with Caleb's, you know, overt religiosity thing, if we wanna learn more about him, let's find out where he's been." Buffy replied.

Faith snatches one of the papers up and begins to read, "Incidents of violence and vandalism connected to California religious insitutions in the last ten years." Turns to Kennedy, "Looks like this gives us a place to start."

Kennedy nods and reaches for some papers and Buffy is about to continue. Just as she is about to say something Willow walks through the door. Buffy turns around confused.

"Willow, I thought you were with Xander?" Buffy said.

"The drugs made him all dopey and sleepy and all the other dwarves, and he well, crashed, so I decided I would be more helpful here." Willow replied, "Plus, you forgot some of the paperwork." She held up another, smaller stack of papers.

"Thanks Will." Buffy said solemnly.

Willow nodded and then sat down. They began to read when there was a loud crashing noise from the other room. Buffy looked up and then held her finger to her lips. She stood up slowly and Faith followed suit. Kennedy stood up as well, but Willow grabbed her arm and pulled her down. Kennedy didn't look too happy.

Buffy slowly sneaked around the corner, her body relaxed, ready to fight. She held up her fingers, 3, 2, 1. Then she leaped out from behind the stairs and punched whoever was on the other side in the face. It gave a cry, an all too familiar cry and shouted, "Bloody hell!"

"Spike!" Buffy said, "What are you doing?"

"No burning to a crisp, that's what I'm doin'" Spike hissed at her.

"Its daytime!" She said.

"Yeah, I know, that's why I brought the blanket." He said and held up the blanket that had previously been covering him, "I came in through the back, tripped on the table, and then you punched me in the face."

Buffy rolled her eyes and said, "You alright?"

Spike nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Just try not to sneak around, please. We're in the middle of an apocolypse here, we're all on edge." Buffy said.

Spike nodded, "Yeah, I know, everyone is going nuts out there. They're all scapering."

Just as he said this a large, dark red skinned demon, with long curved horns, and spines down its back burst through the living room window. The sunlight shown through and Spike covered himself up with the blanket, cursing all the while.

The demon roared and Buffy heard Faith say to Spike, "What was that you were saying? Everyone's leaving?"

The crash attracked attention and Willow came busseling into the room, "What is that?"

"Dunno, its just burst through." Faith replied.

The demon roared again and held out its arms. There was a bright flash of light and something blue and white was sucked out of Buffy and Willow. A soon as this happened they collapsed to the ground.

"Oh crap." Faith said, "What is this thing?"

Spike peaked out from under his blanket, "My guess, soul sucking demon."

"Well, that's great for you, isn't it." Faith hissed.

"Not really, I have a soul too you know." He hissed back. Faith was surprised for a second until the demon swung a large fist at her.

She ducked and swung a punch back, nailing him in the face, "Yes!" She shouted until the demon whipped its tail around to knock her feet out from under her. She landed flat on her back and curses. The demon tried to slam its tail down upon her, but she rolled away just in time.

At this point Kennedy and Amanda heard the commotion and came in. The demon hissed and roared at them, but while it was distracted Faith kicked it in the stomach. It realled back a bit and then charged her.

Kennedy looked down and saw Willow, "Willow!" She cried out and ran to her, "What happened!" She cried to Faith.

Faith punched the demon again and shouted, "Soul sucking demon. Maybe if we kill this thing we can get it back? What do you think about helping me?" The demon attacked her again, but Faith dodge it.

Kennedy grabbed a sword from the chest and charged at the demon. The demon turned, but too late and was gutted by the sword, straight through the stomach. The demon howled and hissed, not dead yet. Faith snatched the sword away from Kennedy and lopped the things head off. He rolled to the ground, not making a sound.

Faith grinned, but Kennedy still looked panicky. Then the demons chest glowed blue and white and two souls shot out of its hands and flew back into Buffy and Willow. As soon as this happened Kennedy rushed over to Willow and began to shake her. Willow moaned briefly, but didn't wake.

Spike snuck over to Buffy from behind the blanket and began to lightly shake her as well. Buffy moaned and then sat up and looked at Spike

"What happened?"

"Soul sucked right outta ya, love. That is gonna make you hurt for awhile, believe me." Spike told her.

"When have you ever had your sould 'sucked' out?" Buffy asked.

"Well, maybe not sucked, but I did have shoved back in, can't be any more pleasant then having it ripped out." Spike said.

Buffy nodded and Spike asked, "You alright love?"

"Yeah, I just feel kind of weird."

"Like I said, soul being pulled outta ya, can't be fun." He said and then grabbed her arm and led her into the kitchen to sit down.

"Thanks Spike." Buffy said a little confused.

"You sure you're ok?" Spike asked, there was a twinkle in his eye as he said this, of interest and longing. Buffy was taken aback by this, a little, she hoped it wasn't plain on her face.

"Yeah, I just feel like I hit my head, really hard. Like bashed it up against the wall." She said and then notcied something was differnt for the first time, her voice, it sounded funny, different. She touched her throat, hoping the soul pull didn't have any other affects.

"What is it? You look like your thinking about something." Spike said.

Buffy nodded, "Does my voice sound...funny to you?"

Spike thought and said, "No. Why?"

"It just...sounds different to me."

"Is there a ringing in yer ears?"

"No, it just sounds...funny." Buffy said and she reached back to stroke her hair, which felt tight. It was tied back in a ponytail, she hadn't remebered putting it up like this, this morning.

"Now what?" Spike asked.

"My hair."

"What about it?"

"Was it always in a ponytail? I mean, when you walked in before, was it back?" Buffy asked.

Spike was bewildered now, "Yeah. You sure you're ok? You're acting kind of strange."

"I think I might be losing my mind." Buffy said a little dazed.

"Why's that?" Spike asked worried.

"Because I don't remeber having enough hair to tie it back into a ponytail."

"Well, it grew back in after ya cut it." Spike replied, still worried.

"Yeah...no...no it didn't. I kept it relatively short. I didn't grow it out." Buffy said baffled.

"Yes you did. You grew it out a bit again." Spike said, panic in his tone.

"No, I didn't"

"Yes you did!"

"Spike, relax." Buffy said.

"Buffy, you really sure you're ok. I mean, love, like I said, you're actin' kinda weird." Spike said.

Buffy nodded, and then her head snapped up to look at Spike, "Did you say...Buffy?"

* * *

Spike lead Buffy into the kitchen as Kennedy continued to shake Willow and call her name. Faith grabbed her arms after awhile and said, "Kid, you're gonna shake her to death. Give her a break." 

Kennedy glared at Faith, but let Willow go. After a moment or two Willow opened her eyes and sat up abruptly.

"See, I told ya." Faith said.

"What happened? I want to see the liscense plate of the truck that hit me." Willow moaned.

"Not truck hit you. Are you ok?" Kennedy asked concerned.

Willow eyed Kennedy interestingly for a second and said, "Yeah." slowly, but it had a questioning tone in it.

"What's the matter?"

"Kennedy, what happened?"

"Well, you got your soul sucked out of your body."

"I did? By what?" Willow asked firmly.

"The demon, that came in. It did...actually I don't know what it did. Faith?" Kennedy asked.

"Yeah, well, we were all preparing to fight when you walked into the room." Faith said.

"I was in the room." Willow replied.

"No you weren't, you walked in." Faith said.

"No, I was in the room the whole time. Standing next to you." Willow said firmly.

"No, you weren't you walked in later." Faith replied.

"No. Faith. I was next to you."

Kennedy interrupted, "What does this have to do with anything?"

Willow and Faith glared at one another in a way Kennedy hadn't seen before. Willow was openly defiant and less good natured than she remembered, but that could have been because she was in pain.

"Right, anyway. You walked in." Faith said and Willow scowled, "And then the demon lifted its arms and you and B collapsed and this white light shot out of the two of you. It went into the demon. Spike told us it was your souls or something like that."

"Right, right." Willow replied thinking, she seemed somehow, different to Kennedy, then Willow's head snapped up, eyes deteremined, "Who did you say got their sould sucked out?"

"You and B." Faith said puzzled, "If you want to know if she's ok, she's in the kitchen with Spike."

"What do you mean, B, is in the kitchen with Spike?" Willow asked, her voice hard and edgy.

"I mean, Buffy and Spike are sitting in the kitchen." Faith said, sitll confused.

"Buffy? Is in the kitchen?" Willow said, eyes wide.

"Yes, I said that three times now." Faith said annoyance in her tone.

"Willow, you sure you're ok?" Kennedy asked concerned and then realization seemed to cross Willow's face as she looked at Kennedy.

"Kennedy, I'm not Willow, I'm Buffy." Willow said and Kennedy's eyes widened, no sure what to think.


End file.
